Good idea on adding the grounds. did you use a braided strap or other??

I spoke with Alvin@pcmforless, and he's very sure that my problem lies in the tune. Unfortunately, my Epromer5 took a poopie, and I just had to shuck out a bunch for a Pocket Programmer 2. So, hopefully this week, we'll see as I have a new tune waiting to be burned.

 

well the car runs smoother, but i still have arching........grrrr!


i dont think its in the tune.......maybe your hesitation is...... but not the arching...........cause my car is just boltons and i have the same problem.

im gonna try replacing my wires since theyre under warranty i think.

 

well have you guys come up with a fix or not

let me know please i may even send money

 

Sorry about not keeping up with this, but I've been out of the country since the 29th. I'm actually writing this from Japan.

I'm quite sure after more exploration that my arcing problem isn't an "arcing" problem so much as it is a resistance problem. My car is loading up on fuel, which I believe is making the car misfire, and the arcing is happening because of the resistance.

Why, oh why, is it loading up on fuel though.......

 

I know this may be sorta late but, you may want to try this.

Put a strip of "Fish Paper" a stiff paper they use to insulate
the commutator segments in electric motors, between the coil
and the bracket ,let it stick out about 1/8 inch on each side and
the whole length of the slot (between coil & bracket) and super glue in place, do this on both sides, no more arcing.

 

I actually tried that, but the stumble still happened, even thought the air gap was blocked, leading me to believe that the arcing was a secondary reaction to a greater resistance problem.

 

well, even thought my wires were visually fine, we thought maybe i got a bum set of wires.

so changed wires, plugs again.

still a faint flashing around plugs (usually #3 and #7, but i cant see the passenger side) and around the coil.........its not as bright/strong as it seemed before, but its still there.

i will have to find a way to scan it again to see if its still retarding timing.

 

I have the same problem. Interestingly enough, I also did NOT have this problem before replacing my optispark. I called the dealer to see if there were any reports of optis causing this problem but he was unaware of any. Jason sells many optis to us F-Body folks and I assume he would be the first to know if there were an "opti problem" out there.

I am going to try all of the things you guys tried to see if perhaps I luck out and fix the problem. Replacing the coil with a new GP Sorensen unit didn't fix the problem. My first task is to replace the grounding strap. Then, I will do the cooling mod.

Someone pointed out that their car was running rich for an unknown reason. Whether it is cause or effect isn't clear but I offer the following: 1) if richness is the cause of the problem, perhaps change the map, iat, o2, maf sensors to see if the problem goes away or 2) (as in my case) the rich condition is the result of a misfire. In the instant my car stumbles, my rich/lean guage runs lean. The PCM sees the extra fuel that was not burnt and compensates. I may change the map, o2, and iat just to see what happens.

Again, most interesting is that this problem only became apparent AFTER I changed my opti which appears to be the same situation with you guys. I've tried to think about what changing the opti would mean in terms of spark and resistance. It seems that there would be increased conductivity, not increased resistance.

Let me know if you guys come up with any ideas.

 

do you have a tune, or stock computer?


mines been mail order tuned by pcmforless, and i think maybe theres something in there that needs to be changed...........im gonna put in some 100octane and see if my knock retard goes away.........if it doesnt, then its false knock and im gonna start doing some computer editing.

 

Bringing back an old thread - Did you solve the coil arcing? My car has now developed an arc on its brand new coil as well :/

 

As far as I know, yeah. I believe the arcing was stemming from the extra resistance from WAY too much fuel being in the cylinder. I'll take a look once I get everything on the new motor set and start logging for tuning.

 

Bring back the old thread. got_hp? did you ever figure it out? Mine arcs on #3 and #7 also and at the coil. It has a bad stumble under light throttle and is really starting to annoy me. Anyone?

 

High resistance will cause the arcing.Narrow your plug gap to .035 and try it.Check your plug wire resistance @ ohms per inch in the manufactures spects.Wash the coil with break clean to remove any carbon tract left by the arcing and if you can visually see a tract(got to get it in the light just right) take a pencil eraser and remove it.